Lemon Herb Slow Cooker Chicken

January 21, 2015

Disclosure: I am participating in the Chicken Farmers of Canada campaign managed by SJ Consulting. I received compensation in exchange for my participation in this campaign. The opinions on this blog are my own.

I have some happy news to share today! I’m continuing on with my role as a Chicken Farmers of Canada Brand Ambassador for 2015! Last year was my first year as a brand ambassador and I’m looking forward to sharing even more chicken love with you this year. You can follow along on social media with the hashtag #chickendotca to see what recipes myself and the other BA’s are cooking up.

One of my goals for the new year is to eat better. It isn’t easy with so much temptation around. However, I’m determined to stick with it. Even little changes count!

The Chicken Farmers of Canada website has an amazing selection of delicious chicken recipes. I’ve already tried a bunch with my family and plan to try many more over the coming year. What is great about their site is how user-friendly it is. You can search by category or dietary need. It makes it very easy to find exactly what you are looking for quickly.

Let’s say you want only gluten-free recipes. You would click on Advanced Search and check the box for Gluten Free. It will pull up all the gluten free recipes. You can refine your search even more if you like into specific cuts of chicken and style of dish.

I’m in total slow cooker mode right now. The cold weather brings it on. I love throwing all my ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning and having a delicious meal ready by the time the kids are home from school. Plus, my house smells so inviting! I must force myself to not constantly peek inside.

Last week I made Lemon Herb Slow Cooker Chicken using some fresh lemons and spices from my pantry. I had a whole chicken I picked up just for this meal. I could almost taste it in my mouth as I was getting it ready.

This recipe is almost fool-proof. The only way I’ve messed up before was not checking to see if there was anything left inside the chicken. I’ve cooked a chicken and forgotten to look inside in the past. Now I never forget to check. Lesson learned!

Squeeze some fresh lemons over the chicken and sprinkle your dried herb mixture all over. Stuff the lemons inside the chicken. It permeates throughout the meat to make the most divine flavour. It’s slight, but you can taste it.

It slow cooks for 8 hours. I used a meat thermometer to check for doneness just to be on the safe side. I timed it perfectly. Serve with veggie side dishes and you have a meal your family will rave about. If you have leftover chicken, use it for chicken salad or chicken sandwiches.

For this recipe, I cooked with the skin on. I also cut up pieces of butter to rub under the skin. I find it really helps to keep the meat tender. After cooking, you can remove the skin and enjoy. Did you know that you can still cook healthy chicken with the skin on? It makes the meat juicier and tender because all the natural juices are kept inside while cooking. The key is removing the skin after you cook it. Read this study by the Chicken Farmers of Canada on how you can still cook healthy chicken with skin on. I learned about this last year and it was like a light switch went off in my head. It makes sense.

Chicken Farmers of Canada represents over 2,800 Canadian chicken farmers of all types. Choice is a good thing! Here is a brief listing of the types of chicken you can find in Canada.

Free Range: Chickens have access to the outdoors.

Free Run: Chickens must be able to move around freely in the barn. Note that all chickens in Canada are free run chickens.

Grain Fed: This term is mainly used for marketing purposes. Chicken in Canada eat a feed that is over 88% grain.

Halal: Halal is a term used by Muslims which means “permitted by Allah”. Animals must be well-rested and handled in a way that minimizes suffering.

Hormone Free or Steroid Free: Another marketing tactic since the use of hormones in chickens has been banned since the 1960s in Canada. All Canadian chicken is hormone free.

Kosher: Kosher means “fit” or “proper” and that the food meets the dietary requirements of Jewish law.

Organic: The chicken must met the specific standards of the Canadian General Standards Board and varies from province to province. Generally it means the chicken is raised with certified organic feed with no animal by-products or supplements.

Raised without Antibiotics: The chicken was not treated in any way with antibiotics. Read the Chicken & Antibiotics section for further info.

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25 comments

This looks absolutely delicious Stacie! I love lemon chicken and being able to make it in the slow cooker would be such a great way to get a healthy meal cooking while I am at work. Pinning to make next week!

This sounds good We eat a lot of chicken and I love making a roasted chicken on the winter. Congrats on being a brand ambassador!!

The slow cooker is great and good for you on trying to stay healthy. Chicken can be done in so many ways, and this sounds good. I love the tang of the lemon with the flavor of chicken plus our grocery just had lemons on sale.

Sounds so easy!! Must try 🙂

This sounds good and I will try it soon. But mainly I wanted to thank you for explaining the categories for Canadian chickens. After living in Europe for 10 years where there is a much higher public demand for free range, good quality food, I found it hard to come back to Canada and realise that none of my new friends cared about chicken welfare. But I also found it difficult to sort out the types of chicken and eggs available and what they mean – everything gets mixed up with the Americans and their laws. And after watching the CBC video last year of the illegal cruelty at two nearby Alberta egg farms, I’m even more concerned. Are you also in a position to post egg categories in Canada as well? I usually go for free range organic grain fed with no antibiotics (geez that’s a mouthful) but maybe some of that is marketing.